Shadow of the Slayer - The Fallen
by Jawanza
Summary: A newly resurrected Buffy is confronted by Dawn, while Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, as well as Spike, search for the sisters. But one event will send them all spiraling. (A Dark Alternative S6)
1. Prologue

_

Shadow of the  


_**S L A Y E R ** The Slayer's allies must deal with the side-effects of the resurrection…starting with Buffy dealing with Dawn.  
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The Fallen

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Written and Created by Jawanza Barial

© A copyright of Doomed Productions 2002. Started August 11th, 2002. Completed ----.

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An original mini-series based on the hit TV series created by Joss Whedon. Based upon Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon's work on the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And an expert from Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe's "The Death of Buffy."

Starring…

Buffy Summers

Xander Harris

Anya Jenkins

Dawn Summers

Tara Maclay

Spike

and Willow Rosenberg

Guest Starring…

The Buffybot

The Demon

Co-Starring…

Biker Demons

**__**

This is basically a darker rewrite of Season Six. In this episode, events take place at the very end of Bargaining Part II_ and the start of _After Life_. Everything else from _Bargaining Part I_ and _II_ have already occurred, and it begins with Dawn and Buffy's encounter. Contains spoilers for throughout Season Six._

Prologue

**__**

INTO EVERY GENERATION, A SLAYER IS BORN. One girl, in all the world, a chosen one. One born with the strength and skills to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil. Throughout the ages, she has always been there. Forsaking friends and family. Protecting the innocent. Facing the darkness, wherever she might find it. This is the way it has always been, and always must be. In the face of such evil, the life of one girl is such a small price to pay…

_But _this_ Slayer is different. She did not face the darkness alone. And her friends will not let her go. And it is because of family and friends, that _this_ Vampire Slayer shall never truly be at rest…_

Her name had been Buffy Summers. She had once been a normal girl, living up her life just like every other normal L.A. freshmen girl at Hemery High. That was until that day that she met Merrick, the man that would forever change her life, even though he would soon die. Death. It had surrounded her everywhere she had gone: Merrick, Ford, Kendra, Ms. Calendar, her mom…and of course her deaths. One death at the hands of the Master—only to have been brought back with the help of Xander and Dawn—and the other protecting and saving the world, and her sister.

Death had been her release from the chaotic world and life of Buffy Summers.

But now, the girl stared at that looming and monstrous tower that she had leapt from to save her sister. She wasn't supposed to be here, Buffy's time was finished. The Slayer of Vampires had sacrificed herself and moved on from the living…so what was this all? The fire, the pain, the agony? Was this hell? Why was this all happening to her? Were her memories of her afterlife all a lie?

She tried to think and focus, going back to that night.

_The portal began to open right beneath them. Rapidly ripping space and reality to pieces, dimensions pouring into each other creating unbelievable chaos. The sisters could only watch the horrid sight, unable to believe it had come this far. But Buffy knew what she would have to do…_

…Buffy had done what she was supposed to do. She closed her eyes, trying remember seeing the last sunrise, the dawn of a new life, trying to hear her final words to Dawn, before she leapt off the tower and into the portal. Before the dreadful and displeasing light, became something else all together.

__

"Buffy," whimpered Dawn, as they watched their eve begin to fade, "no."

"Dawnie, I have to." Buffy could hear the words escaping her lips.

"Buffy?" called her sister's voice. "Buffy."

The Slayer turned around and there she stood. Dawn. Buffy couldn't help but quiver—where was she? This couldn't possibly be real; the pain, the angry, and hatred that surrounded, it couldn't possibly be the place she had once lived in. It definitely wasn't the place that she had left behind. It couldn't be real. This _image_ in front of her—nearly as scared and confused as she—it couldn't be Dawn.

"Buffy?" called the girl. "Is it really you? I mean…_really_?"

The tower—she remembered the tower, built by crazy people that had worshipped the hell-god Glory—shifted and trembled, nearly caused both Buffy and Dawn to fall off the tower, down to the earth below.

Back to death.

Buffy began to turn around, facing back towards the edge of the plank, looking down at her only escape.

"_No!_"

****

Together, they had managed to fend off the leader of the biker demons—even without the help of the Slayer, though the gang wouldn't have mind if their friend had chosen to stick around. And they knew their friend—Buffy—was in fact alive, their resurrection spell had worked…though they weren't entirely sure if it had successfully worked.

Willow didn't want Xander, Anya, or especially Tara to know that even before she had come forward to the group with the idea of bringing Buffy back, that there was a chance that she could come back like this. Come back wrong. She had forced herself to push her doubts away in order to do the spell herself, but when the biker demons appeared on site there was nothing that she could have possibly done.

It wasn't her fault.

Whatever was wrong with Buffy, it could be fixed. It would blow over. Whatever was happening to her could be reversed…

…without reversing the spell.

Walking down the back ally, moving away from the Magic Box and staying hidden from the ravished streets of Sunnydale, Xander lead Tara, Willow, and Anya towards Buffy's house, trying to find the fastest route their without running into the wild bunch. They were trying to figure out what their next move would be, which obviously was focused on finding Buffy. What the Scooby Gang would do to her when they found her was a whole different story.

Then, for a brief instant, Willow felt something in the air. She could sense something coming at her in waves. It was almost like residue from a magick spell—_her_ spell. It was Buffy. And she was definitely close by somewhere. But where would Buffy have possibly gone if not back to her house—

All four froze in a single step as they heard the whining and creaking of the shambled tower.

The tower. The place where Buffy had… That's where Buffy would be, Willow just knew it.

She glanced back at the others and nodded. "Follow me."

****

"Don't!"

Buffy slowly glanced away at her only means to escape and towards the thing that would inevitably force her and that reality.

"Don't jump Buffy, _don't_ move! Just walk to me," Dawn—or at least the girl that stood before her—called and cried out to her. Trying to calm Buffy and soothe her, making her step away from the edge of the plank. But that _was_ her only way to be calmed and soothed. To jump. To leave whatever placed she had been sucked down into, and return where everything seemed good and at peace.

Buffy didn't understand why her sister would want that from her. For Buffy to give up everything she had earned throughout the hardship and fighting and death—for Buffy to be in a place that she could truly be at peace. So she turned away from her anchor, and stared back over the edge.

"I'm your sister, Dawn," the small voice insisted slowly. "We were up here…together…and then, you went away. And you don't want to do that again. I don't know how you're back, but you are. And _please_, just stay still—" And that's when the tower began to tremble again, piecing falling apart and the structure beginning to fail.

Slowly getting closer to her release.

"—o-or move! B-but towards me. Because the tower was made by crazy people and I don't think it's holding up very well."

And for the slightest moment, Buffy thought that _maybe_ she might be real. But how could she gamble the reward she had forged through these many years, over something that _might_ be her sister. She stared over the edge—her chance to escape—but then turned her attention back towards her sister's call.

"Talk to me," pleaded the girl. "Say _something_."

Answer her. Buffy realized that she at least owed her that. So, she said that only thing that was plaguing her mind.

"Is this hell?" Buffy whispered under the cries and creaking of the tower.

"What?"

The Slayer gave in, turning away from her way to escape and towards her sister. "Is this _hell_?" Broken, lost, seemingly alone and confused, the Slayer stared into her sister's eyes, seeking answers and truth.

"_No_. Buffy, no. You're here, with me. Whatever happened to you, whatever you've been through, it's over now."

Yes, it truly was over. Wherever she was now—earth or hell—it was truly over. Even if Dawn was real, she was the thing that stood between Buffy and her afterlife. The tower gave an agreeing shake, throwing Dawn off balance and brining the Slayer closer towards her reward, as she turned back towards the edge.

"We have to get off of this tower!"

Dawn only clouded the little sense Buffy had left—jump off of the tower, just as before, and she would return to the place of peace and light.

"It was so…clear," Buffy thought aloud, as she looked down the tower that continued shake and fall apart, "on this spot. I remember how…shiny and clear everything was. But, now…now…" Buffy knew what she had to do, to set it all right.

And then, she spoke again.

"Buffy, _please_ listen to me." And so she did. "You told me I had to be strong, and I _tried._ But it's been so hard without you. I'm sorry."

Buffy clinched her eyes shut and tried to push away the words as Dawn clouded Buffy with false hopes and promises, about everything would change. If it had been anyone else, she might have been able to resist…but _Dawn_, her sister. Her only real family left. And then, those words drew her back. The last words she had said to her sister.

"I _need_ you to live. Live, for—" Before she could finish her words, Dawn let out terrified screech as the tower started to totter. It was now that Buffy would have to choice: save her escape or let the tower take her back. And even if she wanted to go, she knew what she had to do. "_Buffy_!" she cried.

She had finally come to her senses. "Dawn." Buffy spun around and there was Dawn, on the other end of the plank, clinging on for dear life as that structure of the tower quickly depleted. "Dawn!" Buffy sped towards the younger Summers, grabbing her sister and helping her towards the stairs of the tower. Before Buffy could even think of another way to escape down the stairs in time, the peak of the tower became unstable and frames and beams started raining down—colliding into Buffy and Dawn and pushing both over the edge.

Confused and terrified, the Slayer couldn't comprehend what was happening. The two plummeted down from the tower, and in the moment, Buffy hoped that things would be over. Even if it was only seconds, these moments were the hardest she had ever dealt.

But pain was her only reward. The Slayer had stopped moving, slowly piecing together what had occurred. Beneath Buffy was the shattered body of her sister—the reason why the fall hadn't killed her. The only reason why she had chosen to stay…it was gone. She'd been played.

And as the tower continued to collapse, the anger, hate, loss, and confusion that boiled throughout Buffy, dissipating the remaining sanity within the Slayer. And the thing that had anchored Buffy here—her _sister_—was gone. She was truly, and now forever, alone…


	2. Chapter 01

Chapter One

            **W**here had she gone?

            Keeping track of the little bit seemed to be far more trouble than all his encounters with the Slayer had been. Throughout all the chaos, carnage, and flames, Spike had managed to lose Dawn when none of that was actually happening. Instead, the bint had fled off after seeing the corpse of the Buffybot. Rekindling old memories of the real Buffy no doubt, causing the girl to rush off.

            But to where? Where on earth would Dawn have gone?

            Back to the Summers' house was probably Spike's best bet at this point. He could check in at the Magic Box to see if Willow and the gang were still around, but they would probably stake him on site if he appeared Dawnless. But…but that wasn't why he was so concerned. If he were to lose Dawn, again, his promise to _her_ would forever be broken.

            Not again…

            The Magic Box would be his best bet at this point. It was closer than the house. Plus, there were more alleys that Spike would be able to slip through on the bike to get to the shop—staying off the open road would be good when there was a demon heard in town.

            But somehow, moving through the raging hell of Sunnydale towards what would likely be the ashes of the Magic Box, Glory's tower had caught the vampire's eye. Or at least the brief sight of the tower before dust clouded the smokey night air.

            She was there, at the tower, now. Dawn. She had to be. It was the only place that she would flee to. It was the only place in Sunnydale that marked the spot of the fallen Slayer. That's where she would go.

            Pushing the stolen motorcycle to its edge, Spike dashed towards the tower.

*          *            *            *

            Only Anya had questioned what the loud clatter had been, but everyone had pieced together where Willow was leading them by now. Willow's new awareness of magicks helped her sense the presence of her spell, which helped her steer the group in the right direction—but now it was clear to everyone that Buffy had headed back to the tower. The tower built by Glory's monks and minions. The tower where Dawn was bled and gateways and dimensions were opened.

            The tower where Buffy had died.

            Why go back? What could Buffy possibly want at that tower? To die again?

            "We have to hurry," ordered Willow.

            Not even glancing back at Xander, Anya, or even Tara, Willow's limping pace quickly accelerated into a fast sprint towards the tower. Willow's eyes locked onto dust that had arisen from the fallen wreckage of the tower; right on the spot where the portal had opened and Buffy had scarified herself. If she had only gotten there sooner, the tower would still there, and she could learn what had become of Buffy.

            Even as Willow rushed towards the tower, she could steel feel the strong presence of her spell. Only a living creature would be giving off that strong of a magickal radiation. Buffy had to still be alive.

            "But she's broken. I think we screwed it up." Anya's words echoed throughout Willow's head. All Anya had done the entire way over towards the tower was repeatedly bring up the possibility that something went seriously wrong with the spell during the biker attack, and Buffy had come back wrong. But they had all seen Buffy when she was fighting Razor. She was still very reachable. With Buffy still alive, there was a chance she could still be brought back.

            Willow heard the other three catching up behind her, as she appeared before the remains of the structure. But what Willow saw before her chilled her every muscle, forcing her eyes to amplify and all her true dread to overcome her.

            Straddling the corpse of her once living sister, Buffy Summers was punching and punching and punching what was left of her younger sister's bloody skull. The sound of it drowned out Willow's sickened gasp, as the Slayer's fist continued to pound at the dead flesh, completely lost in it and unaware of what she was doing. She was lost in the rage and confusion of it all.

            All the trauma that had built up from that night, had literally pushed her and driven the girl insane.

            And it was Willow's fault. But there was nothing she could possibly think of now. Nothing she could do. The Wicca dropped to her knees and shouted her friend's name in hopes that it would reach her, but the Slayer was too far gone.

            "Willow!" It was Tara's voice, tired and out of breath. The three sets of footsteps came up from behind her, slowing as she turned around. Tears streaked down Willow's already pale and tired face. "Willow? Willow what's…" But as Tara came closer towards Willow, she saw what remained of what Willow had resurrected. "O-oh my god. Dawn!"

            "What? Dawn? What's she—" Xander stopped dead in his trail, when he and Anya both caught sight of Buffy, viciously mauling and pummeling the fallen body of Dawn. "Dawn!"

            Xander, Anya, and Tara left the weeping Willow and hurried towards Buffy. She didn't even take note of them as they approached. Death. Destruction. Only set and focused on killing…her sister…

            This was what Willow had brought back.

            The three tried getting Buffy off Dawn, which only enraged the Slayer even more. Buffy swatted Xander away with a single punch, followed by Anya, but Tara was thrown off guard when the Slayer lashed out a kick that sent the witch tumble into the ruins of the tower. The fragments of the fragmented building started to collapse around Tara.

            "_NO_!" Anger penetrated Willow's brief suspension, forcing her back onto her feet. She could feel the power coursing through her even before she shouted again. "Tara!" The rage and energies just seeped out of Willow's hands as dark electricity shot out and hit Buffy. With one strike, the shock left the Slayer's body still.

            "Willow?" a small voice numbing called back.

            "NO!" Willow ran towards the spot where Tara had landed. Even before she reached it, a pulse of energy pushed away all the remnants of the tower that had cushioned her fall. She instantly grabbed and cradled Tara in her arms, who weakly smiled back at her. "Tara?"

            "I'm ok," she said quietly.

            Xander and Anya began to move as well. Xander glanced over at the bodies of Buffy and Dawn, and slowly towards Willow and Tara.

            "Is she gonna be alright?" asked Xander gravely.

            Willow's still blackened eyes met Xander, something—was it fear?—filled Xander and caused him to look away. "The winds knocked out of her and she's got some bad cuts and bruises, but other than that—"

            "Will, you know I wasn't talking about her." Xander's eyes were locked on the body of their best friend. The same body that they had already had to put into the ground.

            "She's alive," reassured Willow. "The bolts should have only knocked her out."

            "You know that's not what I'm asking."

            She didn't answer. Willow pulled her eyes away from Xander, and back towards Tara. She was still alive, and that's what counted right now. Willow hadn't lost her. As uncontrollably as Buffy was towards Dawn, Willow just kept on stroking Tara's hair and holding her tightly. Willow couldn't stay silent for long—she needed to get Tara out of there, as well as the others, and figure out a way to _fix_ what had happened to Buffy. "I…I don't know."

            "Oh, he's talking about if your spell somehow brought Buffy back _wrong_," elaborated Anya, "like possessed, or as a demon or zombie, or you know, insane." Willow struck Anya that caused the ex-vengeance demon's eyes to widen and force her to step back.

            "I don't _know_," cried Willow. "Everything seemed to have gone correctly with the spell—and we all saw Buffy before the tower. She seemed to be settling in to things again, like she was still there. Like maybe the spell and everything went right, but with the circumstances of…_everything_, it was just too much. And from all this she's gone insane."

            "Oh, so it couldn't _possibly_ be your spell then," Anya shot back.

            Before the argument could erupt further, Xander stepped in between the two. "Stop! Just stop it. We…we need to figure out what we're going to do. The biker gang's still here, Tara's hurt, and Buffy's…well, we have to find a safe place to put her. Where she won't hurt anyone else."

            "What about Dawn?" asked Anya.

            Xander took another deep breath and shook his head. "Dunno."

            But Willow had pieced things together. "With the demon attacks and everything, she probably wasn't the only casualty. If we just leave it here there's nothing that'll bring this all back to Buffy—"

            "No!" Anya was appalled by Willow's suggestion, simply leaving the body instead of taking the responsibility. "We can't just _leave_ her here. It-it just wouldn't…be right. What if someone finds the body and eats it, or use it for parts, or something sick and twisted. We _can't_—"

            The roar of a nearby motorcycle cut Anya off, and all four knew that they had to get out of the open. The Hellmouth still wasn't safe, even with Razor dead, his boys were still in town and looking for trouble.

            "Fine," said Willow sternly, rising up and helping Tara in the doing. "I'll teleport her to a hospital or something, and she'll be safe there. In the meantime, we need to help Tara before Buffy wakes up." Tara groaned and pushed off of Willow. "Can you walk?"

            Tara nodded. "I'm a little dizzy, but I'll manage."

            Willow smiled sweetly towards Tara, but that warmth faded upon Xander and Anya. "Can you two take Buffy?"

            "She won't wake up will she?" asked Anya.

            "Not for awhile," Willow insisted.

            The two quickly complied.

            "Go up on ahead," said Willow, kneeling down next to Dawn's body. "It'll take a moment for the spell to work, and there's no need to wait."

*          *            *            *

            All he could do was watch. That's all he could ever really do, because Buffy always seemed to be out of his reach. But, before she had left, Spike had been fine with that. Even though she knew what he was, she still treated him right with respect that he didn't even deserve, but she was still kind. Now, Spike wasn't even sure what Buffy had become.

            The vampire watched the Scoobies drag the still breathing body of the Vampire Slayer away from the destruction of Glory's tower. It had been _them_. They brought Buffy back. After the entire summer of working with them, helping them, and protecting Dawn…and Dawn, she was gone. Her fragmented body remained as Xander, Anya, and Tara, with the unconscious Buffy, left the scene, leaving Red next to the Slayer's kid sister.

            _Her._ She had done this all.

            Willow.

            She was the only one who had tapped into the dark arts—well, her and Rupert, but it hadn't surprised Spike when he learned that the Watcher had shipped himself back to England. Of all the Scoobies, she had been the most controlling and distant that summer—ordering for Spike's help, but never really keeping him in the loop about things. Simply using him as a tool for survival.

            This night was a confirmation of that all.

            And Spike watched with disgust as the witch's eyes darkened and she burned away the body of the fallen girl, clearing away any proof of what happened. Fixing her mistakes to her liking.

            Spike knew Buffy would be the next thing that Willow would try to fix.


	3. Chapter 02

Chapter Two

****

THEY MOVED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE through the tattered streets of Sunnydale. It appeared as if the biker gang was leaving the Hellmouth, but the Scoobies all knew that the bikers had discovered the Buffybot. And there was a good chance that they wouldn't keep quiet about it and would likely return, with company. But they would deal with that problem when it came around.

The real Buffy was their problem now.

Willow quickly opened the door into the Summers' residence, with Tara at her side, and Xander and Anya holding on to the still unconscious Slayer. Willow burst through the door and helped Tara up the stairs into their room, while Xander and Anya sprawled Buffy out on the couch.

"I can't believe what's happening," murmured Xander, staring at the sleeping girl. He bent down and lightly touched Buffy's bleeding face. "I can't believe that…it was our fault."

"Or Willow's," interrupted Anya, as she watched Xander. "We may have helped with the spell, but who was the one with the snakes, the black eyes, channeling all the dark energy into her acting like it was nothing and not at all a big deal, and probably aware that this might happen to Buffy? Willow. What were _we_ doing? Holding some stupid candles probably wasn't even vital to the spell and regretting what we were doing from the second things started to get a little too unnaturally unnatural."

Xander remained silent, not answering Anya, because this was what he did. Whenever something wrong would happen, Xander would step up _unless_ it was Willow or Buffy. He always held exceptions for the two of them, because they had known it each for so long. Xander knew what Willow had done was wrong, and he knew what Anya was saying was true, but he just wouldn't admit it.

"Just because it's Willow doesn't change anything," said Anya sternly. "We brought Buffy back and now she's wrong, and the blame may fall onto us, but Willow _must_ have known this was a possibility, meaning she lied to us about this. So, what else could she be lying about?"

Even through Xander's silent, Anya knew that she had hit something and that she had Xander's attention. But that gripe was quickly lost as a weakened Willow stepped down the stairs.

"Hey, how's she doing?" asked Willow.

"How do you think?" growled Anya.

Xander bent down and examined Buffy's hands. They were still bleeding from when she had clawed out of her grave, and they had probably reopened when she had begun to viciously attack Dawn. 

Dawn.

"Do what know what's happened with Dawn?" Xander finally spoke. "S-she's dead, but do we know where her body is?"

There was a moment of silence before Willow explained that the teleportation spell wasn't too accurate, but Dawn's body was somewhere within Sunnydale General Hospital. But if they checked in within the next several days, they would probably be able to find Dawn—once things had begun to simmer down.

"How's Tara?" asked Xander.

"She's had her better days—we all have." Willow sighed. "She just has a few scrapes and bruises, but she's banged up just enough to be…well, exhausted. She should be fine in a day or two."

"Well, what should we do with Buffy?" asked Anya slowly. "I mean, we all saw what happened at the construction site, right? How do we know she won't flip out and go all feral and wonky again?"

"In a couple of days, maybe…" But all Willow did was trail off, as her sad gaze fell upon Buffy.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all she'll need in order to get over an eternal hell experience and then killing her sister," snapped Anya.

"Well what else can we do, Anya?" shouted Willow. "Put her _back_? Should we put her back in the hell that did this to her in the first place? Or, try to use the power that we have now and try to help?"

Anya stared at Willow, who merely kept her eyes locked on Buffy, thinking of some sort of answer. And she should. She was the one who had done this to them all. "Well?"

"We could restrain her again if she gets wild," suggested Xander. "I mean, we've dealt with it before—with me as hyena-boy, then with your skanky vampire double, and Oz with his werewolf-self—we could cage her somewhere and make sure someone's watching her."

Willow quickly pulled her gaze from Buffy and locked her eyes with Xander. A beat passed before either could respond, and Anya quickly interrupted their train of thought.

"Again, I say—" but Willow cut Anya off before she could finish her rash and impatient thought.

"Oz's cage," answered Willow. Her eyes looked back to at Buffy, but then shook her head. "Dunno if it'll hold a Slayer for a long duration, but at least it will hold her for the rest of the night." Willow crossed her arms sternly pondering which cemetery Oz had always gone to on the nights of the full moons. But even as she started to focus her thoughts on her memories of Oz, she could sense a presence settling in the Summers' household. It was something different…

…Something new…

"The underground crypt with Oz's cage was at the far end of town," remembered Willow. "It was just north nearby the college—"

"You!" shouted a dreadfully familiar voice.

Xander, Willow, and Anya all pulled their attention away from each Buffy and each other, turning around, to see the beaten, charred, bleeding, dead body of Dawn Summers standing on the other side of the room.

"Dawn," whispered Xander softly.

"All of you, this was **your** doing," snarled Dawn, beginning to walk closer towards the three Scoobies. When she made her way across the living room, the new and dark presence that Willow felt seem to send a tremor all throughout the room, causing mirrors and class to shatter and break all around the Summers' living room. "The ripping and bleeding! Hell was raised by **your** magicks! String-by-string."

"Dawn," Willow said sternly, slowly talking a step closer towards Dawn, "I'm sorry what happened to you, and to Buffy—"

"STOP!" shrieked Dawn. "Stop it, **stop it**, **STOP IT!** But you can't because you are the cause of this all. Your magicks couldn't stop her death and your magicks couldn't bring her back. All you can do know is drag her defiled body back to our house and hope it will all work out?" She then shook her head, and all of the tremors she had initiated came to and instant halt. "Get out."

The three Scoobies watched as the ravaged body of Dawn Summers began to start smoking and a horrid flame erupted all across her body, and whatever was left of the Slayer's younger sister began to incinerate. Just as the body had done when Willow had left her.

"Get out, **get out**, **GET OUT!**" Those were the final words before Dawn dissipated into a hell of fiery rage.

Xander, Anya, and Willow all fell silent as they looked upon the chaos and disarray that Dawn—or whatever had just appeared before them—and it was quickly sinking into all their minds that the consequences of their actions would be very great. And the first consequences would be the price of Dawn's life, which Willow was forced into taking.

Willow knew that Dawn would be a price they would all have to pay in order to restore Buffy. Buffy had beaten her sister to death, and if Buffy had to come out of this Willow knew that Buffy would never be the same knowing that she killed her own sister. Taking her out of the picture permanently wasn't something Willow could yet master, but destroying the body would be the easiest thing on all of them.

The three Scoobies then heard the roar of the biker demon's motorcycle rolling up to the Summers' home. They all turn towards the huge window looming behind the couch, but before Willow could even completely turn she could feel the Slayer's cold, trembling, pale, bloody hands wrapping around Willow's neck, lifting the witch off of the ground.

"Willow!" shouted Xander, rushing towards Buffy. But the Slayer swiftly batted Xander to the ground and tightened her grip on Willow.

"B-Buffy, you d-don't want to do this," said Anya shakily, slowly trying to get near Buffy. "I mean sure you've been brought back to this hellish world, with Sunnydale near to be demolishing, and of course there's the beating your sister to death and harming of all your friends you have left, except for, well _me_, but well, at least your not in h—"

Buffy shot a cold, lifeless glare at Anya, cutting off the ex-vengeance demon in the midst of her tactless rambles and she stopped edging the enraged Vampire Slayer.

"Or fine. I'll just _silently _let you go back to murdering your own best friend," muttered Anya, taking a little step back.

The Slayer just seemed to be blocking out Anya and Xander and pulled all of her focus and concentration on Willow. _She_ was really the only one of the four Scoobies that had brought Buffy back, and Willow knew she could be the only one to bring Buffy back to who she once was.

"…Buffy," she managed to gasp. Willow tried to look into Buffy's fiery eyes, attempting to use her magick to help Buffy realize that. But as her grip continued to tighten, Willow became more and more light-headed and knew she wouldn't have enough strength to reach her fallen friend.

"Buffy, no!"

It almost seemed as if his words struck a buried part of Buffy that Willow had been trying to reach all night, and it stung that all it had taken were those two words from him to reach Buffy and nothing Willow could sad could even slightly affect her. Willow expected to see a stunned, slightly pleased, vibrant look across his face, but the dead, stern, and angry look Spike had across his face chilled Willow on a level that had never been reached with Spike before.

"Spike?" whispered Buffy softly, her eyes locked upon Spike. Her hand that was holding Willow in the air began to tremble even more.

"Buffy, put her down," instructed Spike slowly.

The Slayer slowly began to comply, lowering Willow to the ground in then finally letting go of her best friend. Willow dropped to her knees, gasping for life as he flowed back into her, and slowly began to crawl away from Buffy. Xander and Anya both instantly complied as well, getting a safe enough distance from Buffy not to get harmed.

Spike stared down what he had not been able to bring back. But the shaking in Buffy's hand seemed to intensify and Buffy started to break down. A tear began to stream down Buffy's soiled face, and her eyes pulled away from Spike and looked down at her swollen bleeding hands. The same hands that had brought her from her grave, which had struck Xander and Tara, which strangled Willow, and had killed…

"Buffy," said Spike, his voice beginning to sound slightly calmer. He was bringing down whatever barriers Buffy had shielding around her. Spike only took a single step towards Buffy and it was that single step and snapped Buffy's red eyes back to Spike. But this time, they were wide and angry as Spike began to near her.

"NO!" With a single shout Buffy turned from the spot where she once stood, leaping up onto the couch and then projecting herself through the window and into the hellish Sunnydale night.

As one collective force, Spike, Willow, Xander, and Anya all gathered around the remaining shards of the Summers' window, every single eyes scanning abandoned streets of Sunnydale, with Buffy nowhere in sight. The Slayer that they had brought back, damaged somehow, was out in the hellish world they were engulfed in everyday, alone and confused.

Because they had allowed it to happen, and now all they could do is look out into the darkness, paralyzed about what was to come.

"Well it _might_ have been worse," suggested Anya attempting to ensue her uninfectious comfort, only to hesitate for a moment and added, "perhaps."


	4. Chapter 03

Chapter Three

****

SO, YOU BROUGHT HER BACK AND you didn't tell me?"

Willow, Xander, and Anya just let Spike's words hang in the air, as they looked into the darkness of the night. But the silence was broken when without warning, Spike swept around and grabbed Xander by his shirt and lifted him off of the ground.

"_You_ brought her back and _you_ didn't tell me!" cried Spike angrily.

"Well, now you know," replied Xander.

"I worked beside you all. All summer," insisted Spike, continuing to keep a strong hold on Xander. "Hundred and forty-seven bleedin, days. I saved your sorry lives, all of you."

"Um, yeah, thanks?" said Anya. "And can you now please stop griping my boyfriend."

Spike dropped his grasp of Xander, and he went stumbling backwards into the arms of Anya. "Listen, Spike, we didn't tell you. It was… we, just didn't, alright?"

Spike didn't respond. In fact, his focus had completely dropped from Xander, and his line of sight had now fallen upon Willow, who was still staring into the night. Xander and Anya weren't truly the ones at fault. It had been Willow. And her magicks.

"We have to get her back," insisted Willow, turning away from the window to look at Xander and Anya, not even taking any noted of Spike. "We _need_ to get her back, before she—"

"Kills someone else," suggested Spike, stealing a glance Willow who continued to ignore him.

"She's out there, alone, and confused," said Willow. "The biker gang isn't completely out of Sunnydale. So if there's any chance of bringing Buffy back from this, we'll need to find her before she does any harm and damages her."

"Or the rest of this house," murmured Anya.

"Right Anya, cause the bleedin' _window_'s what's important," snarled Spike.

"Not to mention whatever's left of the living—oh." Xander's words fell short, when the Scoobies saw the utter lack of chaos and terror that "Dawn" had erupted on the other side of the living room. All the furniture was in place, there wasn't any glass shattered anywhere, _no_ electric appliances shorting out. It was almost like…

"A poltergeist?" suggested Willow.

"I mean would it really surprise us that Dawn is screaming at us in an angry teen angst beyond the grave?" cued Anya's badly timed interruption, but she quickly fell silent once more.

"Well, we do have an angry dead girl," murmured Xander. He then glanced around at his surroundings. "A dead girl who's house we're staying in—oh, and who's sister was the one who _killed_ her."

"Yep, I'm gonna go with poltergeist too," agreed Anya.

"But back to the girl who you ripped from her grave," said Spike, attempting to instruct the three Scoobies back on course. "What are we going to do about Buffy?""Why don't you and Xander try to find her," said Willow, finally giving Spike something resembling a response. "You can track her Spike and Xander's been to Oz's cage before, we can lock her up there. I can perform an spell to banish Dawn's trapped soul into the ether, so we won't be getting so many friendly visits from our less-than friendly Casper."

"What should we do once we've secured her?" asked Xander.

"You should stay with her Xander and try to calm her down, while you come back here Spike and check to see if we've dispelled the ghost," answered Willow, sternly. She continued to keep her gaze from falling upon Spike and his words. "Go."

Xander gave a little nod and started towards the door. Willow finally let her gaze settle on Spike for a moment, and that was when she saw the sheer anger in Spike's gaze, all directed right at Willow. But there seemed to be more anger behind Spike's eyes than he should possibly have for her. What else did he know?

"Let's go Spike," ordered Xander sternly, waiting for him at the door.

Spike drew his eyes away from Willow and silently complied, following Xander out of the Summers' house.

****

The coldness of Sunnydale seemed unusually bearable that night. Of course, having resurrected your best friend, fighting off a posse of biker demons, and seeing the closest girl to your sister dead on the floor, being beaten to death by her own sister, can sometimes do that to a guy. In Xander's case, it may have simply been the fear and the cold that Xander should have been feeling was being engulfed by Spike.

For once, during the entire trip as they scavenged around Sunnydale, Spike remained utterly silently as they hunted for Buffy. The silence unnerved Xander. Spike continued to follow Buffy's scent into the next cemetery. They had already followed Spike through most of Sunnydale, searing with flames and cluttered with the damaged remnants of the street left by the biker gang, but also several severely beaten residence who were out cold on the sidewalk. And through it all, Spike couldn't even say a word or even steal a look at Xander, he was solely focused on finding Buffy.

So Xander decided to be the one to break the silence.

"It's so nice that you've decided to help us out tonight Spike," muttered Xander, as the two of them crept quietly through the cemetery. "The only time your stalking of Buffy has really proved useful. What are the odds?" But he didn't respond, and just commenced with his tracking. Xander sighed, letting a beat pass, until he said, "Fine, you can be as bitter and monosyllabic as you want—hell Oz would say more than that. But just cause you couldn't be the one to bring her back—"

And it was then that Spike lost his concentration. Spike swiveled around and lightly slammed Xander against a tree, and Spike winced in pain as his chip kicked in and Xander cried in pain as some slight terror kicked in. "I would _never_ do that to her," snarled Spike darkly, dropping Xander and taking a step back. "Listen Harris, I've figured it out. Maybe you haven't, but I have."

"What're you talking about?" asked Xander.

"Willow _knew_ there was a chance she'd come back wrong," growled Spike. "So wrong that you'd have to—that she'd have to get rid of what came back and what it would do. And she knew I wouldn't let her. If any part of it was Buffy, I wouldn't let her. That's why she shut me out then, and why she does now. Because I know what she could do, and she won't let the lot of you believe that about her and what she can do."

"What are you talking about! Willow could never do that to us," insisted Xander.

"That right?" snarled Spike, attempting to hold back his cruel laughter and pain-filled laughter.

"Look, I know you're just covering," continued Xander, "You can't tell me you're not happy. Look me in the eyes and _tell_ me that seeing Buffy alive wasn't the happiest damn second of your whole worthless existence."

Spike sighed, and his angered and teary eyes stared coldly into Xander, and in that moment he could almost feel the pain of that was being produced by the soulless creature. Spike turned away from Xander, beginning to track Buffy's scent again, and he muttered, "The thing about magicks, boy, there's always consequences. _Always_." And right on cue, there was a blood-chilling scream, coming from the other side of the cemetery. Spike stole a look back at Xander, and the two broke out into a run.

****

The cold and lifeless stare that Spike had given Willow was still haunting the Wicca, as she and Anya assembled the ingredients they needed in order to bring forth the restless spirit. Tara was still asleep upstairs and Anya was gathering the remaining ingredients in the kitchen, leaving Willow to herself and working her magicks, the only thing other than Tara that she believed to still be truly stable in her life. That same dead look had engulfed Willow when she had forced herself to burn the body of Dawn and when Buffy had been strangling her. It was almost as if the angered spirits of the dead were staring back at her. Like Dawn…

Now, the only safe thing for Buffy and the rest of them would be for Willow to put Dawn's spirit to rest. Though, the Scoobies' past encounters with the fallen spirits and poltergeists weren't exactly memorable or, what she'd call, successful, so if worst came to worst Willow could always use her magicks to exterminate the problem.

But that would be her last resort, of course.

Willow sighed. She completed everything that she could do with the ingredients she had, and suddenly realized that Anya had been gone for quite some time. _What's taking her so long?_ pondered Willow. "Anya!" she called, beginning to creep into the kitchen, but Anya wasn't there. "Anya?"

Willow continued to peer around the kitchen, and noticed the small pile of herbs and candles on the kitchen counter. She gave a tiny shrug and decided if Anya wasn't there, then she would have to do the spell all by herself. She began to gather the herbs and candles, when she heard a soft little giggle coming from the living room. "Anya?" Willow dropped the spell ingredients and noticed the knife drawer wide opened. Willow quietly closed the drawer and there was a loud _thunk_ in the living room.

Willow glanced back, and in the doorway to the living room was Anya, gliding into the kitchen, with the missing butcher's knife cutting into the sides of her face. Her eyes had gone completely white, and she continued her vile laughter.

"Oh my god," cried Willow. "Anya!" She rushed towards Anya, quickly grabbing the knife, and when she did it was as if a force was released from her and Anya collapsed on the ground. Willow dropped down to help Anya off the ground, when suddenly a small, shadowy distortion slipped out of Anya and rippled out of the Summers' home, and into the darkness of Sunnydale.

"So, not a ghost," whispered Willow, holding onto Anya.

****

Spike ran through the cemetery at full speed, with Xander following closely behind him. He emerged out of the cemetery and looked down into the wooded area just south of the graveyard, where he could see Buffy attacking a frightened young couple at the bottom of the hill.

Xander came gasping up from behind Spike and peered over his shoulder. "Is that…?"

"Buffy." Without another word, Spike rushed down the hill and into the fray, with the out-of-breath Xander following closely, but not too closely, behind him.

When Spike reached the girl that was once the all-powerful Vampire Slayer, she didn't even take note of the approaching enemy and simply continued to pummel the helpless innocent girl that Buffy was once meant to protect. Her boyfriend lay down on the ground, shaking with complete terror.

Spike hesitated as he neared Buffy, remembering he couldn't hurt her without the chip activating, and quickly went to the poor, helpless boyfriend. He grabbed the boyfriend's arm, and started to pull him away from the scene, when Spike began to sense something. Apparently, even driven over the edge, there were just certain things a Slayer couldn't avoid.

Vampires were one of them.

"Well screw that." The frightened vampire hissed angrily at Spike, recognizing the rebellious, bleached vampire. The demon that would once ally himself with the Slayer to slay vampires and demons with her, was now protecting those very demons _from_ the Slayer. Well, mostly. "Irony's a bitch, ain't it mate?" Spike revealed the stake his was carrying and promptly slayed the frightened vampire, causing it to explode into dust.

The siren-like screams of the vampire alarmed both Buffy, and the agitated vampiric partner.

"Hey!" cried the strangled vampire.

But Buffy's focus quickly fell back to the female vampire, attempting to tighten her grip around the vampire's neck. Quietly, Xander continued to creep down the hill behind the concentrating Buffy. He gave Spike a little nudge towards Buffy, needing a distraction and the vampire gave a little nod.

"Buffy!" shouted Spike, but the Slayer didn't respond. "Buffy, luv, listen to me!" But the silence between Buffy and Spike remained, until it clicked what Spike needed to say. "_Dawn_."

Buffy's eyes shot angrily at Spike, losing her concentration for an instance and gave Xander the needed time to strike. Xander fueled all his anger and frustration in his fist and firmly struck Buffy, knocking her down to the cold earth below them and releasing the female vampire.

The vampire angrily snarled as she fell from Buffy's grasp and quickly lunged right at Xander.

"Look out!" But the vampire had already grabbed Xander and thrust him to the ground. Spike quickly headed to the vampire, as the demon straddled Xander and held him down onto the ground. The vampire yanked Xander's head to the side, exposing his tender neck. Before Spike could get close enough to Xander, Buffy attacked. She unexpectedly grabbed Spike's leg and sent him stumbling to the ground. Buffy's grip was unimaginably strong—far stronger than any Slayer or demon or creature Spike had ever faced. And if it wasn't becoming shockingly obvious to Xander yet that Buffy couldn't possibly be right, then Spike knew the consideration was slowly beginning to sink in.

Spike struck Buffy with his idle foot and a jolt of electricity stung Spike's head, causing he and the Slayer howled in a mutual amount of pain. Spike freed himself from Buffy's grip and tried to rush towards the feeding vampire. Spike lunged at the female vampire and she lost her hold of Xander, who remained paralyzed with fear on the ground for a moment, watching his life flash by as it had done so many times in the past.

The two vampires hit the ground hard, but the two undead creatures both managed to quickly recover from the impact. Spike's line of sight fell passed the deadly vampire and fell upon Buffy, whose eyes were still locked onto Spike. There was a brief moment, where Buffy and the vampire just remained still in silence, eyeing down Spike, and then both females rushed at Spike in the same instance. Spike prepared himself for the vampire and when she neared him, Spike grabbed the vampire's arms and managed to pull off a full 360-turn and hurled the vampire at Buffy. The undead creature collided into the Slayer, and again sent a jolt of pain surging through Spike.

Xander arose from his fear, attempting to fight off the violent shaking that the vampire had deposited upon him. He jerked back as the Slayer and the vampire hit the ground right in front of him. Buffy hurdled the vampire off from on top of her and then commenced her attack on Spike once again, not even giving a glance towards Xander.

He glanced towards the trembling vampire, who seemed to be out of her breathless breath. "The Slayer," she hissed. And in the moment of incredible fright and terror began to softly chuckle and backed away, realizing that Xander and Spike's focus was lost upon the demon, and she coward away continuing her laughter into the darkness.

"Harris!" shouted Spike, as Buffy's slow creeping broke into run.

He quickly followed after Buffy, in hopes to reach Buffy before she got to Spike. Xander jumped Buffy, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. Buffy attempted to shake Xander off of her, but he continued to have a strong hold on her. Spike punched Buffy hard in the face, which sent Buffy stumbling backwards into a tree, pinning Xander between her and the tree. He screamed in pain and fell from off of Buffy, who continued to focus all her energies on Spike, and Spike's on her.

But he didn't hold back. Spike hit Buffy hard in the face again, and the loud crack of her nose almost mimicked the horrid cry of pain Spike released, as his hands grabbed his head again. Buffy started to stumble backwards again, and tripped over the recovering Xander, and she fell back slamming her head against the tree.

"Get up and grab her," ordered Spike.

Xander slowly complied. He pushed pain the pain that was shooting through him and Xander got behind the nearly unconscious Buffy and heaved her up from the ground. Spike hit Buffy again, took a moment as he winced in pain, and then hit the Slayer for a final time, until he was positive she was out cold.

"Well that was all kinds of painful," muttered Xander, staring at Spike awaiting a response. But all he did was grab her feet.

"Is the cage nearby?" asked Spike.

"Yeah, it's the next cemetery over," answered Xander, and that was the only thing Spike said to him during the entire duration. As silence fell back upon the two, carrying away the unconscious body of the girl Xander once called his best friend, what Spike said to him before just kept on ringing through his head. _There's always consequences_.


	5. Chapter 04

Chapter Four

****

SO, WHAT'D HE SAY?" ASKED TARA softly, her head still resting against her pillow as Anya put down the telephone.

"There were a number of dear lords, followed by large gaps of silence and concentration," answered Anya. "There was some page turning as well, but I think Giles was able to identify what we were dealing with without doing much of the research that we fail to be so good at doing."

"So, what'd he _say_?" repeated Tara. "Possibly, about the creature we're dealing with."

"Oh, right," said Anya. "Well, his first guess was that it was something to do with something called thaumogenesis—a sort of side effect from casting a large and powerful spell, except in this case the side effect is a demon. Stuff from back in the days of his repressed youth."

Tara fell silent for a moment. "You mean… because of the spell we used to bring Buffy back, we brought forth a demon?"

"Not as simple as that," answered Anya. "It's not that we just brought it forth, we created."

Tara nodded slightly. She pushed herself up from under the bedcovers, propping herself up. "Like that demon that was created when Jonathan did the augmentation spell. It was the price he had to pay for using such powerful magicks."

"Yes, though technically not a price," responded Anya. "That's a gift with purchase."

"But when Buffy killed the demon, the spell was reversed," murmured Tara. "So if we destroy whatever demon that we created, what will happen to our spell? To Buffy?"

Anya hesitated for a moment, giving a weak little smile. "Willow went to the Magic Box to get some research material about the spell we cast. Assuming she's not killed in the commute to and from, we should have the information we need cast this thing out without killing Buffy."

"Thanks Anya."

****

"Care to be useful, Spike?" Xander continued pushed against the entryway to Oz's old crypt and then glanced back towards Spike, holding the unconscious Buffy. The vampire handed the Slayer over to her friend and with one powerful kick knocked down the doorway into the crypt.

Xander and Spike grabbed Buffy and brought her into the cold and dank crypt. Off to the right was Oz's old cage, with the door to the cage still wide open and the idle sheets still lying dustily in the corner. The two quickly dragged the unconscious girl into the cage, and swiftly exited and slammed the cage shut. She could wake up at any moment, and although the cage generally held Oz in, there was no telling how long it could hold a Slayer…

"Okay, Buffy's all secure Spike," instructed Xander. "You should head back to the house now."

Spike shot a glance towards Xander and finally uttered a word. "No."

"Uh, what's that now?" retorted Xander dryly. "Decided to put an end to the stoic—"

"Listen, Harris," snarled Spike, "you may think that you're doing right by following everything that Red's been saying, but why don't you wait a tick, and actually think about _why_ you're in the sodding situation you're in right now. Who was the one that dragged you into this and bollucked it all up? Who's the one who _thinks_ she'll make it all right in one grand gesture?" Spike glanced at Buffy, as she lightly stirred, but still continued to sleep. "Who's the one that did _that_ to her?"

Xander remained silent for a moment, unable to even verbalize anything resemble a true response. So he asked, "So then why should you stay here?"

"'Cause, after everything she's been through tonight, all the chaos and destruction that you and the Slayerettes have done to her, who's been the only one to reach her?" asked Spike. He walked over to the cage and sat down in front of it, continuing to watch her. "So, what'll it be, boy?"

But Xander had already begun to walk out of the crypt, a part of him not fully understand what he was doing but another knowing that it was the right thing to do. Solely because Xander and Willow had tried and tried, and what they had attempted to achieve during that entire night, Spike and managed to accomplish in moments.

And as much as it pained Xander, that did mean something…

****

Spike waited and watched Buffy, as her chest rose and fell in an almost eternal calm that just continued to contain her. But Spike knew that after everything that had happened that night, Buffy wouldn't be able to come back from this in a matter of moments. Spike also knew that sleep was something that a Slayer rarely got, and any moments of rest that she _could_ get were always something Buffy would seize—especially during a night like this one.

But the dreams could only last for so long. Buffy's eyes slowly began to flutter open and her dreams began to slip away, dragging her back into reality. Instinct instantly kicked in as the Slayer's eyes dropped down to the vampire.

The Slayer quickly leaped towards Spike's direction and slammed into the gate. Spike could only watch as Buffy fell down to the floor of the crypt. She got up again and tried ramming into the gate again and again and Spike could only watch her cry and struggle.

"Buffy," whispered Spike. But she didn't hear him. All she could do was try to keep on trying to fight him. Buffy eventually stopped ramming into the gates, and she finally just shot her arm between the bars of the gate, just trying to reach out and kill him.

The vampire began to move in towards the struggling Buffy and reached out to touch the distraught Slayer, but before he could Buffy instantly retracted and slammed against the wall of the cage, and slowly lowered herself to the ground.

"Buffy," said Spike, lowering himself down to the Slayer's level. She had now huddled herself into the corner of the cage, lightly banging her head against the back of the wall. "Buffy."

When Spike said her name again she stopped the slamming and her teary eyes looked straight into the vampire's eyes.

He sighed, then allowing something to escape his breath, as he turned away from the Slayer. It almost sounded like… a sob. But whatever it was that was released, was quickly covered by a crazed little chuckle. "I… I can't even explain it to you Buffy, how it feels to see and to hear you like this. Can't bear to believe what that soddin'… can't believe what's been done to you, love. I don't know what to say."

He paced back towards the gate and bent back downward and looked at Buffy. Her eyes had slowly begun to water, as she stared emptily into the surrounding darkness of her setting. 

"Actually, I do owe you something," said Spike, being the only one who truly knew what Willow had done to Dawn. "I remember what I said. The promise. To protect her, till the end of the world. If I'd done that… even if you didn't make it, you wouldn't've had to jump. And if I'd protected her and watched over her like I'd swore to you, then we wouldn't be in this position, would we?"

But still she said nothing. The tears stopped rolling down her cheeks, and her eyes were watching Spike now, but no words escaped Buffy's mouth.

"But yeah, all I sayin' is… I'm sorry," concluded Spike. "Not just for that, but for so many things. I want you to know, I did save you. Not when it counted, of course. But after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again, do something different." He gave another soft little chuckle. "Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways…" Spike looked deep into Buffy's eyes, nodding softly, and whispered, "Every night I save you."

****

"Not to worry all. I journeyed, I ventured, I opened, I come…ed," announced Xander slowly, stepping into the Summers' home. "I may have accidentally been frolicking between the 'ventured' and 'opened', but uh, not need fret. I elegantly nipped that in the bud." Willow, Anya, and Tara all turned abruptly at the door, with Willow's eyes instantly widening with the sight of her best friend. "I also might want to strike 'elegant' from the record as well."

"Xander?" staggered Willow, stunned, rising up from the stack of books that surrounded them.

"Xander!" Anya jumped from the stack of books and pushed passed the frozen Willow and quickly wrapped her arms around Xander. "You're alive! And not all inert and dead from being murderously attacked by a crazed and angry Slayer."

"Yep, I do that sometimes," replied Xander with a confident nod. Anya released him from her grasp and they made their way over to the pile of books that surrounded the two witches. Xander gave Tara a friendly little grin. "You got out of bed to do a little research?"

"Yeah," said Tara slowly, smiling back. "Something about focusing and reading just sorta helps to take away from the pain, you know?"

"Hmmm, not sure," said Xander. "It's just generally… well, the _source _of mine."

"How's Buffy?" interrupted Willow sternly. "And with Spike watching her, I'm assuming."

Xander shrugged. "A little bruised. Unconscious. But calmer, I think." He gave a weak smile and a little sigh. "And about Spike…"

"Yes," said Willow, awaiting an explanation.

"Well, just think about it for a sec," said Xander. "Out of all of us, who here has actually managed to reach her? No one except Spike."

"Or possibly Dawn," suggested Tara. "But we can't be too sure there other than…" But she just trailed off.

"So," said Xander, squatting down next to and picking up a book from the stacks, "what's the what on the spirit of Dawn? This seems like a lot of research for an exorcist, unless there's something special cause of her Keyliness."

Willow shook her head and handed Xander a book, pointing to a paragraph near the bottom of the page. "It's not a ghost or a spirit we're dealing with—it's the price we have to pay for bringing Buffy back."

"Thaumogenesis," continued Anya. "Spells can sometimes create some sorts of side-effects after the spell has been cast. Thaumogenesis is when a spell actually creates a being—a demon."

"So the thing that's been 'haunting' us, is a demon we made," finished Tara.

"We made a demon? Bad us," said Xander. "So, if we made this creepy, shifty, demony guy, why can't we see it in its normal scaly, spiny, putrid or veiny demony form? We just see it possessing people and doing things to us."

"I'm not entirely sure," answered Willow truthfully. "I think it's out of phase with this dimension. Its consciousness is here, but its body is caught in the ether between existing and non-existing."

"It doesn't have a body," simplified Tara, "so it's borrowing ours…"

"Like it did with me earlier tonight," explained Anya. "According to Willow, there was cackling and cutting and white-eyes involved—completely unattractive."

"Exactly what I was thinking when the slicing occurred," reaffirmed Willow. "It can also manifest copies of them, like when Buffy and Dawn came after us…"

"It's using them to do stuff. To scare us, attack us," said Tara. "And, in Buffy's case, try to hurt us."

"So we need to uh, 'uncreate' it now, right?" suggested Xander. "Get it the _rest_ of the way our of our world. We should be able to do that, right?"

Willow sighed. "In theory, yes, we _should_, but this book says that the demon is linked to the spell. When we send it away, it's like the spell doesn't exist. Like it never happened."

"Like Buffy never…" but Xander stopped himself from finishing.

"Well yes, but there'd be some plus sides," reminded Anya. "Like Tara wouldn't be bruising, Dawn would still be here, the window would still be all frame-like…"

"But we can't just undo Buffy because she's having a little trouble… I guess, readjusting to things now," said Willow. "There has to be a way to bring her back to the way she was, because if we undo what's been done, then there's no chance we'll ever be able to bring her back and set things back to the way they were supposed to be."

"Bet the frame might have a different say in that," muttered Anya. "Or Dawn. Besides, what else could we possibly do?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I think there'll be a way for us to wait out the demon," said Willow.

"How?" asked Xander.

"Cause I'm pretty sure that this is temporary," explained Willow. "It's going to dissipate. The only way for the demon to survive on our plane is if it was to kill the subject of the original spell."

"It would survive if it killed Buffy?" asked Tara.

"Right," answered Willow, "but that's not gonna—"

"Thanks for the tip," growled Xander, who's eyes were now purely white. Xander then collapsed onto the ground next to the stack of books, and the demon fled from his body in its bulgy form, fleeing from the house.

****

After his several attempts to calm Buffy down and to get her to speak had failed, the Slayer had slowly fallen back into slumber. Spike, who had been watching her for many hours, had slowly fallen to sleep himself. Neither was aware of the strong gust of wind that blew outside of Oz's old crypt, swinging the door wide open, and welcoming in a ghastly, phantom, woman-like demon, floating closer and closer towards the girl that would secure its passage into the reality.

The death of the Slayer.


	6. Chapter 05

Chapter Five

****

THE FIRES ALL AROUND SUNNYDALE SLOWLY began to die down as dawn slowly began to approach. Xander sped down Main Street in the direction of the cemetery where the crypt that once housed the werewolf and now entrapped the crazed Slayer was. Tara sat quietly next to Xander in the passenger's seat, arm with a small axe in cause any trouble found them.

Silence had been something deeply discomforting that night for Xander, so he continued to try his hardest to try to break it. "It's getting light out." A slightly pathetic attempt on Xander's part, but an attempt none the less.

Tara just gave him a tired little smile, trying to play along. "I like sunrise better when I'm getting up early than when I'm staying up late, you know? It's like I'm seeing it from the wrong side."

"Um, okay," said Xander, obviously not understanding, but still willing to listen. He waited a moment before he started to speak again, just because he couldn't truly believe what he was about to suggest. "Hey, Tara. This is probably crazy, but I was talking to Spike…"

"Whoa, really?" He glanced over to see her giving him a joking grin. "You two mix about as well as Satyrion seed and powdered turtledove."

"Again I say, okay," said Xander. "But, thing is, Spike made me think. The spell we did. It's having consequences, isn't it? I mean, it sure seems like it. And I was wondering… did you know this might happen?"

"No," said Tara slowly, slightly hurt by the accusation.

"Do you think… could _someone_ have know?" asked Xander softly.

"Willow's a talented witch and she'd never do anything to hurt anyone purposely," reassured Tara.

"I know, I know," said Xander. "Backing off quickly, see, hands in the air." He then glanced back on the road, and quickly gasped a hold on the steering wheel. "Well, they were in the air, so that counts for something right? I just mean that Willow could have seen the possible outcome as a possibility. It's not as if it wasn't possible because… well, as we can see, it's possible."

"But Willow said that if we give it a little time, we can start to make things right," said Tara. "Beginning with Buffy, and for that to happen we need to stop the demon from killing her."

"But if this is the way things were going to happen with Buffy," said Xander, "if Willow had known what would have happened, why didn't she give us some kind of warning or something? It feels like she's… leading us blindly into this. Like she's lost the control she might have on the situation."

Tara nodded slightly. "I… I think I understand. But that still doesn't mean I don't trust Willow with fixing this situation. If there's a safe way to make everything right again, then we'll make it right."

"Starting with Buffy?"

"Starting with Buffy."

****

_"Spike… Spike… Spike… "_ Spike had watched the Slayer fall back into the world of dreams. Oz's cage proved to have held itself together pretty well, and after Buffy had eventually given up trying to escape, she had become warn out and fell back asleep. Spike had closed the doorway to the crypt and fallen asleep himself, though ready at any moment to awaken if trouble started to walk down the steps of the crypt.

Vampires rarely dreamed, and if they did it was generally of memories of the past or dreams created from their primal desires and obsessions vampires would create. But Spike could only hear words flow into his mind, the actual dream itself was devoured by darkness.

Something was wrong.

The voice—Buffy's voice—was beginning to get louder and louder. In an instant, Spike understood what was happening. His eyes snapped open and saw the Slayer, crouched in a fighting position inside the cage, watching as a strange, cloudy, white transparent creature hovering closer and closer towards the cage. Buffy was crying out for the vampire's help, her voice slowly beginning to escalate.

"You don't belong here," hissed the creature at Buffy.

Spike lunged at the creature, but passed right through the demon's misty body and slammed into the gate. Before Spike could even react to what had happened, the demon grabbed Spike by the neck and hurled him across the room and slamming him into the wall, knocking him out.

****

"So, how exactly is this going to work?" asked Anya, while Willow continued to collect the ingredients for the spell. "I mean, how is it that this spell _won't_ send Buffy back?"

Willow walked into the living room and placed the ingredients in front of Anya. "Even though this thing is out of phase with this plane, it's beginning to have a stronger grasp on it—meaning that although it can hurt us and inflict damage, we can't actually hurt _it_. So this spell won't send the demon _back_ to where it came from, it'll just make it solid—corporeal—so when it goes after Buffy, Xander, Tara and Spike will all be able to fight it."

"And killing it won't send her back, right?" asked Anya.

"In theory, yeah." Willow began to create a circle with a powder around herself and Anya.

"Glad you're so sure of yourself."

****

"Spike… Spike… Spike… Spike…" The Slayer watched as the only person who had really tried to help and comfort her that night, fall into the darkness of unconsciousness when the misty demon hurled Spike against the wall of the crypt. The translucent demon then turned away from the helpless vampire to the feral Vampire Slayer. The demon cackled softly as it passed through the bars of the cage.

Buffy instantly swung a punch at the demon when it reached the other side of the cage, but her punch passed right through the head of the demon.

"Did they tell you you belonged here?" hissed the demon, as Buffy threw a series of punches and kicks at it, but the demon then sent Buffy flying across the tiny cell with a single strike. "Did they say this was your world again? Did they say there would be room for you?"

As Buffy began to rise, the misty demon appeared before her and shot another punch at the Slayer. This time, Buffy managed to catch the punch, but just as soon as she had caught the punch did the fist quickly dissolve away.

"Were you offered pretty lies little girl?" snarled the demon, batting Buffy away once again and slamming her into the bars of the cage. "Or did they even give you a choice?" Before Buffy could rise again, the demon swooped in and grabbed Buffy from the other side of the cage by the neck, lifting her up into the air almost as if to hang her.

****

Inside of the darkened Summers' living room, Willow and Anya sat across from each other inside the circle of powder, quietly chanting the spell. Together, they chanted, "Child of words, hear thy makers. Child of words, we entreat. With our actions did we make thee, to our voices wilt thou bend." Slowly energies began to rise from the circle surrounding them, as well as energies from both the witch and the ex-demon.

****

Across Sunnydale, Willow and Anya's spell began to take effect. The misty demon began to solidify slightly, giving Buffy something physical to grab onto. Buffy's hands gripped the demon's cold white solid hands and finally broke the creature's grasp. The Slayer then held on to the white hand and pulled the creature through the bars and back into the cage.

The demon now had taken the form of a thin, frail, white, still misty female. Although her limbs had become solid, its head and torso remained cloudy and misty and unbreakable. And Buffy knew that either one would be essential in killing the demon.

Before she could attempt to strike the creature again, it swung another punch at Buffy, nailing her in the stomach and slamming her against the wall of the crypt once again. But now that the spell had taken affect, the creature's attacks were just that much stronger.

The demon slowly walked towards the broken Buffy, with its feet on the ground, preparing to finish off the Slayer.

****

The energies around Willow and Anya continued to brighten as their chanting commenced. It was almost like the magicks were opening something. "With our potions thou took motive, with out motions came to pass. We rescind no past devotions, give thee substance, give thee mass." Though more energies were being taken from Anya, she could also feel a new and stronger force beginning to rise from Willow as they began to repeat the chanting.

****

The demon swiftly heaved Buffy up into the air, grasping her by the neck again but only with one firm hand. The creature's grasp on Buffy quickly tightened, and as it did mist from the creature's mouth slowly trailed away from the demon and passed into Buffy.

"You're the one who's barely here," cackled the creature softly, dropping Buffy from midair. But the creature's voice had begun to change. "Set on this earth like a bubble." Buffy attempted to lift herself from the floor, but the demon-woman kicked Buffy in the face.

"You won't even disturb the air when you go." Buffy finally looked up at the demon, as the creature shifted forms for the last time…

****

"Child of words, hear thy makers," chanted Anya softly, entrapped in the circle of magicks energies. She continued to tightly grasp onto Willow's hands, but her energies were quickly depleting. "Child of words… we entreat…" Anya quickly broke the connection with Willow, gasping for breath and energies, and opened her eyes to see a nimbus of light shining down onto Willow as new magicks began to enter the witch's system.

Anya instantly recognized what was happening, as Willow tapped into a darker power inside of her. The witch's eyes then snapped open, and Anya say the dark magicks that now plagued Willow Rosenberg.

"Solid!" Willow said with ease.

****

Xander and Tara came bursting into Oz's old crypt just in time. Buffy was staring up at the ghastly, woman-like demon—the creature that had been haunting them that entire night. Willow and Anya's spell began to complete itself as the misty creature quickly solidified. But what the two Scoobies didn't see was what the demon had done to Buffy's mind

Standing before Buffy was the only person who knew what had truly set Buffy off the deep end and away from sanity.

"You're the one who's barely here," snarled the demon again. Triumphantly, it growled, "_I_ am here."

"Buffy!" shouted Xander, heaving the axe in her direction. The weapon passed through the bars of the cage and landed right next to the fallen, feral Vampire Slayer. Buffy's eyes never tore away from the demonic create, but somewhere inside the Slayer's mind, her instincts knew what that was and what she would have to do.

Buffy grabbed the axe and swiftly flung it at the demon. As a beat passed and the axe hit the ground, the womanly demon reverted back to her natural form as its head fell to the ground next to Buffy and the axe. For the second time that night, Buffy had killed and attacked Dawn Summers, her little sister. The one thing that nearly pulled her back away from returning to the dead, yet in turn the one thing she lost that drove her to insanity.

In that moment, the Vampire Slayer within Buffy Summers just seemed to dissolve when she realized that she killed her sister again, and that actualization was almost too much for her to handle as she began to break down. But only seconds later, the pain that was surging through Buffy just seemed to stop. Her cries fell silent and the pain in her eyes just disappeared. As the sun slowly began to rise off in the distance, the solemn darkness began settling back into the Slayer's mind.

"Buffy?" Xander called out to her hesitantly. He slowly began to move closer to the cage, but when he did Buffy lunged at the bars again just as she had done early.

"We lost her," whispered Tara softly, "again."

Xander sighed heavily, and cringed as he watched Buffy struggling again to get out of the cage. Slowly his eyes wandered to the body of the Scoobies' deadly creation and then fell upon the axe that Xander had brought the Slayer. "Other than the obvious need for hygiene in a hygieneless place like this…" Tara's eyes slowly fell upon the weapon as well. "Is there anything you can do to calm her?"

"A tranquil spell that I learned when I was younger," replied Tara. "But I'm not entirely sure how long it will last and the effects that it may have on her if we're forced to uses it repeatedly." All Tara could do in that moment was watch. Watch what she had helped bring back into this world. And what the magick Willow had within her had been able to do to a once great warrior. Before she could even respond, the reawakened Spike murmured the only thought that crossed the two Scoobies' minds.

"But what else can we do?"

****

Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, and Spike all stood inside of Daniel Osborne's past dwelling as the legendary Vampire Slayer slumbered inside of the werewolf's cage. The early morning dawn had begun to settle in and they all knew that they wouldn't have long before their seemingly normal lives would have to attempt to resume again.

"…But things will never be the same again," said Willow to the others. "Buffy died and we don't know where she went." The witch glanced back at her slumbering best friend and sighed. "But wherever she went, it was horrid enough for her not to be stable during her return to this reality, and that isn't just bad for her, it's bad for us, it's bad for Sunnydale and the people she was meant to protect—hell, this could even compromise the whole Vampire Slayer line somehow.

"What you all may be thinking is, why don't we just reverse all this? Send Buffy back, right?" Willow sighed. "It would correct the wrong doing that happened tonight: The death of Dawn Summers. But then, there would never be a chance for Buffy to return and the Hellmouth itself could be put into jeopardy."

"Whereas a crazed Slayer makes SunnyD just… _nifty_ doesn't it?" snarled Spike.

"But that's where things could change," said Willow. "We all may have not been together from the start, and all who were with us to begin with may have not made it to this point, but we have to continue to protect Sunnydale and the responsibility Buffy had to leave behind. And as we do so, we'll find a way to restore Buffy back to her original state, like it was before all this. She may not accept everything at first, but this is for the greater good."

"And the death of an innocent girl just balances it all out, right?" growled Spike softly. But the other four didn't even seem to take note of the vampire's comments.

"We've brought Buffy back, and now we must make sure she's fully restore, or else things may never be right again," said Willow. "We need the Slayer… _back_. And we can do whatever it takes to get her back, but we'll get Buffy back nonetheless and protect Sunnydale. We stopped the biker gang, right? And the group has faced worse. We _can_ handle what's to come…"

****

Not too far outside of Sunnydale, the female vampire staggered into the dark bar, filled with demons and vampires. A number of them looked pretty roughed up, after their brief stay at the Sunnydale Hellmouth and being attacked by the Slayer, witches, and demons alike. The Slayer, which was rumored to have been replaced by a machine—and it was never explained _why_ a young woman who looked just like the robot had torn apart half their crew.

But the young vampire girl knew otherwise. And news of the crazed and feral Vampire Slayer would begin the downfall of Sunnydale California and those who live in the…

Shadow of the Slayer

****

Buffy Summers—the legendary of the Powers that Be who took down the Master, defeated the Judge, sent boyfriend to hell, graduated from Sunnydale High, took on the Initiative as well as a Hell God, and a long list of various other fiends—is gone. But her friends won't let go of her that easily. Though they've resurrected her actual body, the Slayer's mind is gone. Now, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay, Anya Jenkins, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Cordelia Chase, Faith, Spike, Angel, and Rupert Giles will reunite in order to attempt to restore their fallen comrade. But in order to do so, Willow will force herself down a path that will bury her in darkness…

…and along with the revival of the Vampire Slayer, they all must defend the Hellmouth from demons, witches, beasts, and nerds alike as the town that was once guarded by Buffy Summers has been left out in the open. And along with the deadly events occurring in Los Angeles, the group must undergo tests that may ultimately lead to each of their downfalls. And it won't be the Slayer who must defend them through it all. It'll be the vile, soulless creature that was meant to kill each and every one of them…

Follow the inevitable end of Buffy, the Scoobies, and even Sunnydale itself, all captured in the rewritten sixth season of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, entitledShadow of the Slayer. 


End file.
